No One questions this Great Old Saint of TN

A computer engineer who was about to marry in a few days and had plans of going abroad with his new wife was burnt to death along with his two colleages.This did not happen in any of the interior parts of the country,but in the office of Dinakaran,witnessed by hundreds of people including policemen.A large sequence of incidents happened diverting the public from fighting for justice and misdirecting them to other issues.The events described below forms an Oscar winning script for a political drama..

May 9,2007:Three persons were killed when supporters of M.K. Azhagiri, son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, set ablaze the offices of Tamil daily Dinakaran and Sun TV Network.Mr.Karananidhi said "This is an attack on democracy and press freedom.There is no place for dynastic succession in the DMK."

May 10,2007:He added "CBI, instead of the Tamil Nadu police, would investigate the case in a situation where my family is also sought to be implicated."The Dinakaran news editor said "Had the police deployed for security at the Dinakaran office acted on time, the lives of three innocent persons would have been saved".The police registered a case of murder, attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy among others against the accused. However, the name of Mr. Azhagiri finds no mention in the FIR.

May 11,2007:A grand function was celebrated marking the veteran's 50 years in the assembly which was also attended by Mammohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Yadav, Prakash Karat, and the son M.K.Azhagiri

May 13,2007:Dhayanithi Maran resigns following a internal party decision.

May 15,2007:The main accused in the Dinakaran newspaper office attack case 'Attack Pandi' surrendered before the police in Madurai

Nov 17,2007:Five persons accused in the ‘Dinakaran’ newspaper attack case, including ‘Attack’ Pandi, were granted conditional bail by the Principal District and Sessions court

And nothing has happened ever since regarding the case and people within the party had requested the two brothers Mr.Stalin and Mr.Azhagiri to remain united for the welfare of the party.But the unanswered question is "Has Justice been done to that innocent lives taken for the cause of personal gains?"
No one is dare enough to question our great old saint of Tamil Nadu...

May be Taslima Nasreen is not the Angel we perceive

After being tired of hearing the injustice shown to Taslima Nasreen by making her
move out of India,a digging of the backround of her being sent out of the country is necessary.Some hard facts about her has to be dicussed...

1)She was not the Medha Patkar of Bangaldesh, she had consistenly attacked the sentiments of the muslims by making derogatory comments againsts Prophet Muhammed and the Kuran.(Even Mr.Karunanithi was criticised severely for his comments against Ram).She was issued an arrest warrent and even a death sentence.

2)Why would a woman who wants to fight for freedom against women has to do it by revealing personal sexual history in an intimate narrative.

3)She had made several versions of her autobiography describing her contacts with various poets and their relationship with other women.Is this the way of fighting injustice and being a feminist.

4)She continued to hurt the sentiments of Islamic people even in India through her ruthless portrayal of Islamic laws and rules creating a lot of trouble for the government which has given her asylm.

They are various ways to fight against religious fundamentalist ,writing is one way,but there has to be some moral code which every writer may follow,not disturbing the normal life of hundreds of people.She,proclaiming herself as a writer for the betterment of the society ,has not lived to it.Instead she has led a life seeking fame through her autobiographical Kamasutras...

Illavazhagi gets some reward- finally

Finally ,Our world carrom women's champion gets some recogonition after some silent protests against the government for not showing interests in sports other than cricket.Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi announced a cash award of Rs 10 lakh to Chennai-based Ilavazhagi whose father is a cart puller.
It is also fitting that a private engineering college in the city, encouraging sports, had given a job to Ilavazhagi as sports officer.
And it's a pity that such news dont get the necessary attension that it deserves and hopefully she stays in her sport with our support and bring more glory to the nation even though it shows a large indifference to her sport...

Indian Hockey-Dead and Buried

The inevitable has happened ,today is the gloomiest day in Indian sporting history.After all,this was on the cards for a long time now.It is only a matter of time that our national sport becomes an endangered game.India is now out of the Beijing Olympics for the first time in 80 years ever since it first played in Olympic.We have only ourselves to blame to let our national sport down...


Let us take this blow right into our chests and accept defeat with grace and responsibility that we failed to preserve one of our long standing traditions and did not do our duty of honouring the greats of the game.We allowed cricket to take the centre stage giving in to marketing giants who saw business in cricket and promoted it.We wanted our sons to become a Suni Gavaskar rather than a Baskaran.We began to see hockey as a sport of the past and crcket as our country's pride.The 1983 cricket world cup triump changed cricket into an industry and Hockey into a game played by strangers.

We started giving more importance to cricket in schools,colleges and each of the Indian cricket team's triumph was rewarded more than it deserved andeach victory was hyped as if we had won a world war each time.The Hockey governing body also failed to promote hockey during its vital stages nor did it take steps to find raw talent in the interior parts of the country.A Dhanraj pillai was diminished for no reason,a famous Asia cup win was not shown the attension it deserved.A chak de India was a hit,but it never made a new Indian Hockey fan,a PHL was born -the best attempt was made to make it famous but only in vain-Alas everything is in our heart,our reluctance to accept Hockey as our primary sport and show the respect it truely deserves...
The Path Ahead...?
* This has happened for the good,atleast we now know where our Hockey really stands among the other nations
*The Indian Hockey Federation should accept its inability to improve the standards of our Hockey and the Top officials should be shown the door.
*Good,Effective sports administrators around the world should be invited to revive the game and do what has to be done
*We ,the people must learn to respect players of other sports and allow ourselves to think that Cricket is not a greater game than any other sport in the world.
*We must realize Cricketers are not heros(Only the men who fight for us in the borders really are),and understand it is all business going out there to win our attension....

Let us hope for the best and beleive that our Hockey team, backed by our resolve in promoting the game, can do well in the future....

Take this - Women's Day Freaks

They celebrate Women's day as if they are paying tribute to the glorious feminine.They bring in stars and famous personalities and make them talk about women who changed their lives.They sensationalise trivial incidents and neglect some great women who have struggled to glory.Here is such a typical story

Ever heard of the name "Illavazhagi"....
She won her maiden women's title in the World Carom Championship in France last month.She is the sachin Tendulkar of her sport,the world carrom champion.And when she returned to India ,she did not expect crowds to welcome her at the airport.All she wanted was to live a better life than she had done before.
She said
'If the government promotes and encourages carom players, they would even bag gold in the Olympics and bring laurels to the country,''
She has won two SAARC championship title,a world cup,and also bagged the national crown.But the pity is very few people in Tamil Nadu know her name even today.No TV channel is brave enough to broadcast an interview of her even in an Women's day.
The only good news is she was given an meagre amount of Rs.1 lakh some days ago while her equivalent male counterparts in cricket are dealing with crores.

The politicians who seek publicity by addressing the reservations for Women in the elections can atleast mention the names these kind of sportswomen who live a life that very few people are aware of ....

Shah rukh Khan who revived his stardom through his Chak de girls can give atleast a 1% of his earnings from his investment in IPL to these poor female athlethes .But the truth is they are Good Men just at Screen...

Thanks for the Memories -Master

It is a decade now since we started to admire the beauty and excitement that sachin gives us when he bats.Whenever pedestrians shout at him that he no longer belongs there,he comes out stronger with that exclusive authority of his.He is unparalled and too good a champion to write off.He knows about the game more than anybody else in the planet and of course sometimes make us wonder "Is he human or what?".He is definitely human but what differenciated him is his enormous passion to be the best and his incredible intensity to remain at the top.

The joy, entertainment,pleasure,ecstacy he gives us during his stay in the field is priceless.It was not like ,when he was born,the nurse came and gave him."Here it is ,your 80 odd centuries", he earned every bit of it.He did not take the giant step,instead he starved,worked hard,put his life into cricket at the age when we would have been obsessed with cartoons .At 14,his usual day included getting up,going for practice,have lunch at the ground,go back to practice and return for dinner and sleep in the dining table.As my favourite sports writer Nirmal Shekar beautifully points out
"Long before India nF1 teams,Vishwanathan Anand,Indian Stock market boom,Lakshmi Mittal,Sachin was the one who we were proud of...."

I still remember the his first century that i saw on TV as a kid and i got the same feeling this sunday.I have had my transformation from a kid to a man(like millions of his fans)and ironically we expect him to be the same forever for all these years.Still he manages to provide us the same excitement and joy that he gave us a decade ago.Chidren who were born ,when we started appreciating his genius are old enough to get their driving licenses today.

And his greatness lies in the fact that when my grandmother who can't differenciate Cricket and Tennis asked me after seeing Tendulkar's speech "Is he still Playing?"
Being a cricket lover for all these years when I analyse the glorious Indian victory and not as a sachin fan, ,the difference between the teams is the presence of the master.Let us have it here

Of the 5 times we met Australia this series ,we won 3

1)In the 160 run chase ,Schin gave a crucial opening stand making 40,negotiating the initial burst of Brett Lee and Co

2)In the first final,we all know we won because of Sachin alone as he batted all the 50 overs

3)In the second final,he held the innings together for a major part and once he was out,the usual thing happened as if it was 10 years ago...

So,watch it out guys,India have not won a triseries final since Natwest Series just because Sachin has not scored in any of those finals and now we have beaten the world champions just because the master have come to the party this time around....

Wake up Cricket lovers,we still depend on Sachin to deliver at critical times....
And I can say it is a real previlage to remember the sweet memories that he has given me over all these years for nearly one third of my life...Thanks for the memories ,Master